Sound of Freedom (2023) * * *

 

Directed by:  Alejandro Monteverde

Starring:  Jim Caviezel, Bill Camp, Eduardo Verastegui, Mira Sorvino, Cristal Aparicio, Kurt Fuller, Manny Perez

Sound of Freedom is about a government agent's quest to find children who were abducted into sex and human trafficking.  Tim Ballard (Caviezel) spent many years at the Department of Homeland Security tracking adult predators, but after one leads him to a young boy kidnapped while supposedly auditioning as child actors, Tim devotes his life to rescuing endangered children in Colombia.  Sound of Freedom is more famous for being an unexpected hit, its "pay it forward" marketing campaign, and the political polarization which accompanied it.  While it is reported that star Jim Caviezel is ultra-conservative and allegedly is a proponent of Q-Anon theories, Sound of Freedom itself is apolitical and doesn't take the Taken approach to dealing with trafficking.  

Another issue brought about is how much of this true story is true.  I've written here numerous times about how movies based on true stories take dramatic license.  Rudy was about a real-life Notre Dame football player, but the movie itself was nearly a work of fiction based on a real person, but that didn't lessen its impact.  Sound of Freedom is a somber movie about a terrible reality.  It isn't fun to watch, but it works on its intended level in almost documentary-like fashion.  Caviezel gives a restrained performance more based on human behavior than acting flourishes.  The movie doesn't allow Ballard to take center stage, but instead focuses the unflinching story on the victims. 

The most effective and layered performance is from Bill Camp, who plays Vampiro, a former dealer for Pablo Escobar who now rescues trafficked children.  He becomes Ballard's partner in his quest and his story of how he finally left his life of crime behind is hauntingly told.   What's also interesting is the approach of Sound of Freedom.  Ballard doesn't break out a certain set of skills to the kidnappers, but instead infiltrates and uses his mind, although violence does occasionally happen.  Like Oskar Schindler, Ballard is happy to accomplish his mission, but then saddened that the trade continues even though a child was rescued.   Ballard is a man swimming against the tide which threatens to drown him, but you can't imagine what it feels like for the children.  How Sound of Freedom ever became a political football is a question I can't answer.